Process of oxidizing nitrogen of air by means of electric discharges.



. K. KAISER. PROCESS OF OXIDIZIN G NITROGEN OF AIR BY MEANS OF ELECTRIC DISGHARQES.

API LIOATION FILED MAR. 26, 1910. 984,925.

' AMMa/y/A IVA T5,

Patented Feb. 21, 1911.

7: professor of physiolo%,ng;subject j pi "at 9 jXantener ,To alleohom itmay v UNITED-STATES PATENT. OFF CE: s

' mnnimisnn, .or-wiLmnnsnonr, NEAR BERLIN, GERMANY.

rnocnss or oxmrziiioi nr'rnoenu or Air. BY MEANS or-Eiincrnrc mscnn'zasns.

l pe ciflcation of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 21,1911.

' Ap lication sea March 25, 1910. s rial No. 551,511.

- Be it known that I, KARL KA1sER,lPh

German Emperor, resi p strasse, W1lm'ersdorf,near Bungee-many 9 haveinvented certainnew and usefi1lf 'Im tainsitoijmake anti-instant was. a.

' As vis well known in" the art gaseous am provements in i Processes; of, Okidi'zing the Nitrogen of the Air byjMeansgof Electric, Discharges; and. I dohereby. declared lowing to be'a full, clear, and exact "riptiQl I-pffthe inyention', i'suh i Thissinyention relatestosimprouements j a rocess r o xidi'z'l the nitrogen of the air byrmeans'of electric discharges.

i moiiia when mixedwith airand subjectedto the influenceof darkelectrical discharges is partly oxidized int'oam nonium nitrate. It

is also known in the art, that gaseous ammonia when subjected to the action of elec-" tric sparks. or. flames isv decomposed into its constituents,- that is into" nitro en and hydrogen. (See for example Ls piegel, Der StiOkStOfi and Seine Wialttc'gstenf Verbin dungen, vFriedrich Vieweg"& 'Sohn, Brannschweig, Germany, page 398, first paragraph.) A

The present'invention is basedon .the discovery, that when oxidizingthe-nitrogen oi. the air by means of electric are .or flame discharges the output in nitrogen'oxid for nitric acid is consi erablyffincreased, if small amounts of gaseous. ammonia are added to.

the air or to the mixtures .of nitrogen" and oxygen. It has been found, that the gaseous ammonia does not act in the process n such a way'as to bind the prdducts ofithe. oxidationgof-the nitrogen, and to. preyent a state of equilibriumr Vapors of ammonium f nitrite or nitrate'a're-notat all produced in the process; only whenthe electric current is broken small amounts of ammoniiim ni trite are produced as a matter of course from the dioxid of nitrogen produced In the process, the ammoniafand the vapors of the water, and the said amounts of ammonium forjned in thebrown dioxid of nitrogen." In] .this respect the new "process is essentially :gen produced in the process. i

bind "the oXids of nitro- For putting the improved processinto ef-.

jfect an dlternating .currentiofhigh ,tension is discharged, either in the form of aflame or of-a current of sparks, within alsuitable receptacle; for example a tuhe and a .fil ed. I In the preferrsdvform h P ratus small-amounts (Sf gaseous ammonia are drawn in by the current of air by means of an pparat sgvjhich is similar tov finin jector.

. In order that"th.-inve 1ition may more readily be] understood-,"-janfl example of an apparatus by means of'which the aseous ammonia, is added toyth'e current 0 air is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing, in

which a vertical cross-section of the apparatus 1s shown. 7

As shown in the drawing,.from a tube d through which the currentof air "passes a narrow tube 6 is branched ofi'anfhi'ch comcurrentofatmospheric air o'r-a' mixture of nitrogen and oxygen containingfla]. small airipiint of. gaseous ,..ammoniafi is forced through the said'jreceptacle' at the proper.

n unicates with a receptacle r o containing water and-ammonia; The receptacle ,0 is

.providedwitha tube d- 'thr ugh which the air is admitted; In operati' the airflowthrough the tube q'draws in additional air' through the tube Ia?- and the receptacle 0',

and Within'the latter the additional air takes 1. The herein described process of oxidizing nitrogen, which consists in adding a small amountof gaseous'ammonia to a mixture comprising oxygen and nitrogen, and

up small amounts of gaseou's i ammonia.

subjecting the mixture thus produced to the actionof an electric discharge;

In testimony, that I claim the" foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name in presence of' two subscribing witnesses.

KARL KAISER. Witnesses:

HENRY HAsrnR, WOLDEMAB HAUPT.

2; The herein described process of oxidiznitrogen, which consists in adding a small amount of gaseous ammonia to a mix- "ture comprising atmospheric air, and sub- ;jectingthe'mixturethus produced to the acv 'tion of an electric discharge. nitrite are indicated by thin gray vaporsv 

